Solar potential on schools is pretty remarkable, according to SEIA and the Solar Foundation. In Austin, TX, public buildings could host over 50 MW of solar. In San Francisco, it’s 31 MW. If the share of public building space for schools in these cities mirrors Minnesota (where schools represent about half the square footage of all public buildings), then all public buildings (schools, libraries, city property) in each city could host nearly 100 MW or 62 MW, respectively, of solar.

Policy Barriers

As mentioned above, the poor policy choice to use the tax code for federal solar incentives as tax credits makes the public sector ineligible. Additionally, although the 3rd party ownership model has arisen to solve this design flaw, it’s only legal in about half of U.S. states. In the remainder, state law either prohibits or is ambiguous enough to make this deal structure too risky to attempt.

What’s Holding Cities Back?

Despite the policy barriers facing cities going solar, there millions of unused, publicly owned rooftops in places where the state and federal rules are not barriers. Why?

It could be bureaucracy. A representative of Borrego Solar said of the process to install solar on a city building in Beverly, MA, that, “the approval process involved five city council meetings, three subcommittees and two public meetings.”

It could also be city inexperience with electricity infrastructure. Despite its rapid growth in the past decade, prior to this time few cities had ever owned or installed electricity generation of any sort on their property. And admittedly, the complexity of net metering, incentives, and ownership structures pose a substantial barrier to determined solar lovers, whether or not they are cities.

It could be something else entirely. Have a story to share about getting solar on a public building in your community? Have you worked with a city to install solar? Share your story in the comments or with me at jfarrell@ilsr.org!

ILSR plans to further investigate the dearth of solar on city public buildings over the coming months, and your examples can help use tell the story.

John Farrell directs the Energy Democracy initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and he develops tools that allow communities to take charge of their energy future, and pursue the maximum economic benefits of the transition to 100% renewable power.

About the Author

John Farrell directs the Energy Democracy initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and he develops tools that allow communities to take charge of their energy future, and pursue the maximum economic benefits of the transition to 100% renewable power.